


Remembrance

by HenceTheIssues



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/M, Ficlet, Memories, Romance, Team STRQ Era, mentioned Taiyang/Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 16:11:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11535768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HenceTheIssues/pseuds/HenceTheIssues
Summary: From the beginning, he knew he wanted to always be near her, and he'll follow her through those memories time and time again. The only problem... he knows how this story ends.





	Remembrance

Her cloak was always so distinctive. 

The memories in his head started to click. 

He had thought she was shy the first time he met her, by the way her hair fell into her face, the quiet demeanor she held in a crowd, and the way she kept that cloak pulled about her constantly. But within the few moments of being paired with her as his partner, the way she locked arms with him and the way her bright eyes sparkled as she introduced herself, he knew he had judged her incorrectly. She wasn't cold – she was warm. 

He was instantly intrigued by Summer Rose. 

The pure white cloak rarely left her shoulders. No, she wasn't timid – her personality and happiness radiated from her, leaving few untouched by her charm. Yet the cloak protected her from everyone else. How badly he wanted to touch her though. But how could he? It was too white, she was too pure. His curse would surely mar them. 

She almost proved him wrong. 

Silver lights danced in his mind. 

Her cloak was softer than he had imagined. 

In his dreams, he could feel her wrap her arms around his neck, could feel her warm breath on his cheek, could feel her delicate lips brush against his own. 

He felt the warmth of her cloak on his arm. 

Eyes wide open and sleep gone from his mind, he had sat up quickly on the couch he had collapsed onto, letting the white fabric pool into his lap. Her face glowed as she wished him a good morning, and he became painfully aware of his own feelings. 

He was desperately in love with Summer Rose. 

And fate must have forgotten who he was one day because somehow, by the grace of some God, she loved him back. 

While her cloak was soft, it could never hold a flame to her kiss. He could remember it clear as day, when he gripped the edges of her hood and pulled her close and she kissed him back with just as much affection and passion. 

Her cloak was warm, but it would never be as warm as when they melded their bodies as one. The way it spread beneath her glistening form, framing her as the angel he knew she was, his heart burning with more love than he could handle as he dove back into her. Like he wasn't marked by darkness. 

She almost made him believe that. 

His eyes began to burn. 

This is where he wanted the memories to stop. 

She would use her cloak as a shield. 

It hid her eyes as she broke the news to him. She needed the strength, and it provided that to her. Of course she didn’t blame him. He knew that. But he knew he finally had tainted the purity he had loved for so long. The black in the corners of his mind grew. She miscarried their child early on this time. Next time… next time fate would be much crueler to them. 

His shield was not as harmless as hers. 

Alcohol had been kind to him in the past, but it wooed him in with false promises of forgotten memories and truths. He began to slip away, spurred on by the weight of the world. 

He didn't realize he was leaving Summer behind. 

The world of Remnant was large, full of monsters and Grimm. He was able to slowly bury himself in his work, burying himself in something that couldn't hurt his loved ones… and if that failed he could always drown himself in drink instead. He didn't realize that when his twin left them all, he followed suit. He wasn't deserting a spouse and child though, he wasn't like her. 

That much was true. Unlike his sister, he expected his life to stay the same. 

There came a day when he never saw her without her cloak again. 

The heat in his hands was unnatural. 

To this day, the emotions that ran through his mind on that day that he came home from a long hunt and she told him she was having a child with their teammate, his best friend, were still undefinable. Betrayal? Sadness, confusion, guilt? Anger at himself and the world, he supposed, but even more thoughts, too intricate to put a name to them. Especially when he realized how happy and in love she was with him. 

His solution was simple. No amount of alcohol seemed to hurt him anymore. That is, until he found himself in a back alley with it coming back up, searing his insides. 

He wanted to be wrapped in her warmth. To be enveloped in the soft white. But those days were behind him. Even with the pained fragments of his emotions, he couldn't stand the thought of his curse bringing her harm. Or to her baby. 

He decided to let go of Summer Rose. 

He figured it was a good idea in the end. The pictures he saw of the infant girl showed the healthiest baby one could ever ask for. Like theirs should have been. 

He opened his eyes. He knew what part was coming next, but he couldn't leave. No amount of alcohol could ever drown this memory. 

That snow-white cloak would one day be stained. 

The world around him was so cold. 

She was a hero, she had to protect them. They were counting on them, on her. The light that shown from her eyes was of no use, her gift powerless in use against her assailant. His curse didn't help. 

He caught her in his arms, her body heavy and lethargic in his grasp. To his own ears, he sounded calm and controlled, but the way his throat burned with every word made him realize he had probably screaming too much. Maybe sobbing. He would never know. 

Her silver eyes caught his and he was mesmerized as he ever had been, but he could see the light behind them fade as quickly as the red stain spread beneath her, dripping along his thighs. She still loved him as much as she ever had. 

Her crimson cloak pooled around them. 

Time folded in on itself, the minutes gone in just a blink of an eye while each second somehow stretched to be an eternity. Words toppled off his lips - lies, pleas, confessions. But no power in this world could save her. 

For too long, he clung to the cold body of Summer Rose. 

His vision finally returned. 

It was dark inside the forlorn room he took at the inn for the night. He draped his arm over his forehead, chastising himself for drinking as much as he did. His fingers tingled and lights danced in his vision - he knew that much alcohol triggered those memories he so desperately wished would just be buried. But sometimes he couldn't help it. Sometimes he just needed to remember the warmth of the cloak. 

He shut his eyes once more. 

Heat spread through his body, covering him like a blanket. As he drifted, he swore he could feel her slender fingers glide across his chest, smell her hair as she nestled beside him. 

Qrow Branwen sighed deeply as sleep finally took him. 

She was his new curse, a soft, pure one that would never leave him, one that would keep him lonesome, one that would constantly give him strength.

He would always love Summer Rose.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I've been a fan of this pairing since first introduced to Qrow in 2015... So this small fic is a long time coming. Truth be told though, it almost didn't come at all. But my conscious would not let me post more fanart before I made my thoughts on this couple clear. While I don't dislike the idea of Qrow being Ruby's dad, it's not the headcanon I like to go with.  
> Because I believe to go through such terrible pain and still come out a sincerely caring man is so powerful.
> 
> Because who says all love stories end happily?
> 
> Again, thank you so much!


End file.
